On 28 July 1914, Laszlo Count Szogyeny, the Austro-Hungarian Ambassador to Germany (pictured), sent a coded telegram to Leopold Count Berchtold, the Austro-Hungarian Minister of Foreign Affairs. In his telegram, Szogyeny discusses Germany’s refusal of a British proposal for mediation.

Laszlo Count Szogyeny

Count Szogyeny to Count Berchtold. Berlin, 28 July 1914.

Cyphered.

The British proposal of mediation, according to which Germany, Italy, the United Kingdom, and France were to meet at a conference in London, to find a way of getting out of the present difficulties, has been rejected by Germany on the grounds that a conference was not a suitable means for achieving this kind of success.